Integrated Circuit Design
NMK22003
(Rekabentuk Litar Bersepadu)
Semester I 2024/2025
Introduction to IC design
and Design Issue
Some
Keywords!
Very-large-scale-integration (VLSI) is defined as a
technology that al ows the construction and
interconnection of large numbers (millions) of transistors
on a single integrated circuit.
Integrated circuit (IC) is acol ection of one or more gates
fabricated on a single silicon chip.
Wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor material on which
semiconductor devices are made. Also called a slice or
substrate.
Chip is asmal piece of semiconductor material upon
which miniaturized electronic circuits can be built.
Die is an individual circuit or subsystem that is one of
several identical chips
that are produced after dicing up a wafer.
If you use these key-words often, people
will think that you are an expert VLSI
engineer!!!
Semiconductors. Semiconductors are materials which have a conductivity
between conductors (generally metals) and nonconductors or insulators (such
as most ceramics). Semiconductors can be pure elements, such as silicon or
germanium, or compounds such as gallium arsenide or cadmium selenide.
A transistor is a type of semiconductor device that can be used to conduct and
insulate electric current or voltage. A transistor basically acts as a switch and an
amplifier. In simple words, we can say that a transistor is a miniature device
that is used to control or regulate the flow of electronic signals.
Historyof
ICDesign
Invention of the transistor 194
(BJT) 7
Shockley, Bardeen, Brattain –
Bell Labs
Single-transistor integrated 195
circuit 8
Jack Kilby – Texas
Instruments
Invention of CMOS logic 196
gates 3
Wanlass & Sah – Fairchild
Semiconductor
First microprocessor (Intel 197
4004) 0
2,300 MOS transistors, 740 kHz clock
frequency
Very Large Scale 1978
Integration
Chipswith
morethan20,000devices
The origin of this terminology can be traced as the logical
extension to the integration techniques namely the Smal Scale
Integration, SSI (the ICs which functioned as logic gate s, flip-
flops), the Medium Scale Integration, MSI (multiplexers,
decoders)., the Large Scale Integration LSI (early
microprocessors, smal memories, PAL, GAL
Technolog Number Of
Gate s / Example Year
Transistor
y Per Chip
SSI 1 to 20
74XX series, 4xxx
series
60’s
MSI 100 to 1000
74XXX series,
45XX series
70’s
LSI 1000 to
10,000/100 to
8085, 80’s
100,000*
10,000 to CPLD, FPGA,
VLSI 100,000/1,000,000 * advanced µC, SoC
90’s
IC’s market trend&
economicimpa
ct
As aresult of the continuously increasing integration
density and decreasing unit costs, the
semiconductor industry has been one of the fastest
growing sectors in the worldwide economy.
ElectronicRevoluti
Ageof
on
electronics
• microcontrollers,DSPs,andotherVLSIc
hips are everywhere
Electronics of today and
tomorrow demand…
• higherperformance(speed)cir
cuits
• low power circuits for portable
applications
• more mixed signal
emphasis
• wireless
hardware
• high performance signal
processing
• sensors and
microsystems
VLSI
Design
DesignFlow
Methodologies
Top Down Design
★ coded circuit
functionality for rapid
design
★ digital
only
BottomUpDesign
★ transistor-level design
with focus on circuit
performance
★ digital & mixed
signal
IntegratedCircuit
Technology
Technologies”for digital
ICs
In PGT220 will cover only CMOSbecause…
• CMOSdominate s the semiconductor/IC
passive circuits:
• resistors and capacitors • industry Silicon is cheaper - preferred
only, no transistors
• over other materials
activecircuits;withtransistors
physics of CMOSis easier tounderstand
•
• III-
CMOSis e asier to implement/fabricate
Vdevices(compoundsemic •
• .)
MOS and Bipolar devices
CMOSprovides lower power-delay
(silicon) •
product CMOS is lowest power
• density: can get moreCMOS
transistors/functions insamechiparea
BUT! CMOS is not the fastest technology!
BJT and III-V devices are faster
CMOStechnologytre
nd
Variations over
time
• #transistors / chip: increasing
with time
• power supply voltage: decreasing
with time
• device channel length: decreasing
withtime
• power / transistor: decreasing with time (constant
power density)
• Maximum Power of the
chip?
Transistor/Chip Channel
Length
Power/
Transistor Supply
Voltage
Low power/voltage is critical for
Moore’s
LawMoore (co-founder of
In 1965, Gordon
intel) realized there was a striking
trend;each new generation of
memorychip contained roughly twice as
much capacity as its predecessor, and
each chip was rele ased within 18-24
months of the previous chip. He
reasoned, computingpower wouldrise
exponentiallyover relatively brief periods
of
time.
Moore's observation, now known as Moore's
Law, described a trend that has continued
and is still remarkably accurate. In 26
years the number of transistors on a chip
Moore’s Law for CPUs and
DRAMs
Semiconductor
Scaling
Cross Section of
transistor
Device channel length: decreasing with
time
Details on transistor operations is on slides 32 onwards
Processor Technology
Scaling
Technologyno
de
iPhone Chip?
ITRS
InternationalTechnologyRoadmapfor
Semiconductors
Predictions of the worldwide semiconductor / IC
industry about its own future
prospects...
DesignIssue
[Link] device
dimension
b. Increasing function
density
c. Increasing clock
frequency
d. Decreasing supply
voltages
Why the chips become complex over the year?
Moore’s law
on powerconsumption